NPD, the leader in market research for the wireless industry, said that the mobile phone handset sales to consumers in the U.S. reached nearly 31 million units in the first quarter of 2008. Some of you might say this is a lot, but in fact, this is a 22 percent decline since the same period a year ago.

The manufacturer that did maintain its lead in the U.S. market is Motorola. However, its share of unit-sales declined from 35 percent in Q1 2007 to 27 percent this year. In addition, RIM Blackberry improved its ranking, edging out Sanyo as the fifth largest mobile phone manufacturer based on the number of handsets sold in the U.S. in Q1 2008.

Here is breakdown of the top five manufacturers’ share of units sold in Q1 2008:
Motorola - 27%
Samsung - 18%
LG - 17%
Nokia - 8%
RIM Blackberry - 5%

via: npd